Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-02-17
DEATH TO PENSION BILLS
Full Text of the Presidents Message
YetOing the Dependents Bill.

the text Oh tuo pIeSltASiio nosSdS6, Veto
ing the dependent parents pension bill:
To the House of Rep resentatives:
Herewith L return without my approval
house bill No. 10,45 entitled can act for
the relief of depende ut parents and hon
orably discharged soldiers and sailors,
who are now disabl ed and dependent
upon their Own labor for support" This
is the first general bill that has been sane
toned by congress since the close of the
late civil war, permitting pensions to SOL
diers and sailors who served in that war,
upon the ground of service and present
disability alone, and the entire absence
of any injnries received by the casualties
or incidents of such service. While by
almost constant legislation since the
close of this war there has been compen-
sation awarded for every possible injury
received as result of military service in
the Union army, and while q great num-
Der of Ia US passed for that purpose have
been administered with great libsrallty
and had been supplemented by numerous
private acts to reach special cases, there
has not until now been
AN AyowED DEPARTURE
from the principles thus far adhered to
respecting Union soldiers; that the boun-
ty of the government in the way of pen
sions is generously bestowed when grant
ed to those who in this military
service, in the line of military duty,
have to a greater or less extent
been disabled bat it is mistake to sup
pose that service pensions such as are
permitted by the second section of the
bill under consideration are new to legis-
latiOn. In 1918, thirty-five years after
the close of the revolutionary war there
were granted pensions to the soldiers en-
gagged in that struggle conditioned upon
service until the end of the war or for a
term longer than nine months, and re-
curing every beneficiary under the act to
be one who is, or hereafter, by reason of
his reduced circumstances in life shall be
in need of assistance from his country
for support. Another law of like charac-
ter was passed in 1928, requiring service
to the close of the revolutionary war,
and still another passed in 1882, provide d
for those persons not included In the
previous statutes, but who served two
years at the same time during the war,
and giving a proportionate sum to those
that served less than six months. A SER
vice pension law was passed for the bene-
fit of the soldiers of the war of 1872; in
the year 1671-56 years after the close of
that war, which required only sixty days
service, and another passed in 1878, sixty
three years afterward requiring only IA
days service.
THE SERVICE PENSION BILL,
passed at this session of congress, 80
years after the close of the Mexican war,
for the benefit of the soldiers of that
war, requires either some degree of di5a-
bility depending on that the claimant
~ Oh IL. ~
years of age and in either case that he
should have served sixty days or been
actually engaged in battle. 1t will be
seen that the bill of 1918 and the Mexi-
can pension bill being passed nearer the
close of the wars in which the benef-
Charles were engaged than the others,
one l5 years and the other 80
years after the termination of
such wars embraced pensioners who were
quite advanced In age, assumed to be COM
paratively few in number, and whose cir
cumstances, dependence and disability
were clearly defined and could be quite
easily fixed. The other laws referred to
appear to. have been passed at a time so
remote from the military service of the
persons which they embraced that their
extreme age alone was deemed to supply
the presumption of dependency and
need.
THE NUMBER OF ENLISTMENTS
In the revolutionary war is stated to
be 309,791, and in the war of 1912,
576,622; but it is estimated that on &C.
count of the repeated re-enlistments the
number of individuals engaged in
these wars did not exceed One-half of
the number represented by these figures.
In the war with Mexico the number of
enlistments are reported to be liz, 230,
which represents a greater proportion of
individuals engaged than the report OF
the enlistments of the two previous wars.
THE NUMBER CT PENSIONS
granted under all the laws to the soldiers
of the revolution is given at
62,0S9. To the soldiers of the
6O,178; and to the soldiers
of the Mexican war and their widows up
to June 80, 1885, numbered 1919. This
number of pensions was granted to SOL
diers who endured muca hardship from
disabilities incurred as a result of such
service, and it was not till within the last
month that the few remaining sur
Vlvors were awarded a service pension.
The war of the rebellion terminated near
ly % years ago, and the number
of mon furnished for its prose
cution is stated to be 2,772, 4OS.
No corresponding number of statutes
have ever been passed, to every kind of
injury or disability incurred in the mill
tary service of any war, and under these
statutes 561,576 pensions have been
granted, from the year 1861 to January
80, 1856, and more than $500 pensioners
have been added to the rolls by private
acts, passed to meet cases, many of them
eff questionable merit, which the general
laws did not cover. On the first day of
July, 1886, 365,673 pensioners of all
classes were upon the pension rolls, Of
whom 305,605 were survivors of the war
of the rebellion and their widows and de-
pendents. For the year ending June 80,
1887, S7S,000,000 have been appropriated
for the payment of pensions,
and the amount expended for that
purpose from 1861 to July 1, 1886, is
SoOS,624, S11.51. While annually paying
out such vast sum for pensions already
granted it is now proposed by
THE BILL UNDER CoNsrDEp ALTON